I surprised myself with the emotional reaction to hearing about Steve Jobs’ passing yesterday. I guess I knew it was coming, but having never met the man, didn’t expect to have “a moment” about it. After reading words from Eric Schmidt, Richard Branson, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and President Obama (not to mention a few other people), it became quite challenging to write anything original that I hadn’t covered when he resigned. But there is one thing that I don’t think is as bluntly stated as I’d do it, so here’s my brief take.

Steve Jobs is, in my opinion, singlehandedly responsible for the concept of Consumer Technology. Or, less brief, responsible for the concept of really amazing consumer technology.

I wasn’t always an Apple fan, but I think I (almost) always respected (most of) their products. Even before I wanted a Mac, I thought it was awesome that they paid such attention to screws and other little details. Even when I thought a turquoise computer was silly, I was able to “get” why they did it. Even when I thought switching to Mac would just cause me a pain (fears of incompatibility, etc), I always kinda sorta wanted to go there. Even when I thought they couldn’t pull off success in the phone market, I had a sneaking hunch they’d do something a little, shall we say, different, than the rest.

The Apple II was arguably the first mass-market personal computer. The Mac was the first visual computing environment that put ease of use ahead of a command-line interface. The iPod was the first end-to-end solution for digital music. The iPhone transformed phones. The iPad is transforming the entire computing landscape.

Steve certainly didn’t do it alone, and the entire teams he’s had around him for years deserve immense praise. But it’s safe to say that no other inventor, entrepreneur, technologist, CEO, engineer, marketer, product designer, or anyone else has pushed the “consumer” in “consumer technology” so far as Mr Jobs did over the past four decades.

So thank you, Steve, for not just the gadgets, but realistically the entire concept of building technology for the people. You made technology, as you’d probably have put it, delightful.

Big thanks to Clayton Morris for having me on his show last week. We talked a lot about Google TV, as well as some iPad cases and some Android chat. I had a few Skype/headset technical difficulties, but overall it seemed to work quite well! Was on with esteemed guests Ross Rubin, Dan Costa, and Jeff Pulver.

Just saw the iPad has started shipping. Feeling a little tingly. Truth be told, I’ve been looking forward to getting mine (in-store pickup; kids would go nuts sitting around all morning while I wait for the UPS guy) for the past week or so. Which is fairly unusual for me. While I know most of my friends and colleagues (and family especially) think I always have all the latest everything, the truth is I’m an atypical “gadget guy” and not commonly an early adopter of technology. I’ve done a little “self-review” of me + new tech, here’s the results:

Last gadget I’ve pre-ordered?

N/A

Number of products (any kind) I’ve pre-ordered, past 5 years?

One. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Gadgets of which I’ve owned the first-generation versions AND been an early adopter of (specifically: owned prior to virtually anybody I knew)?

TiVo (Philips 14-hour unit)

Rio PMP300 (16MB version)

OLPC (charitable donation, didn’t really care about the computer)

Slingbox (doesn’t really count since I didn’t buy it)

Apple iPod/touch/phone products I’ve owned:

N/A

Gadgets of which I’ve owned the second-generation versions OR late adopted:

PalmPilot 500 (and Palm V and others)

TiVo (again)

Harmony remote

Android phone

Rio Karma (was awesome)

Sonos

Jawbone

iMac / MacBook

I definitely love new technology (more specifically: gadgets) and while I am usually ahead of the “mass adoption” phase, it’s rare for me to have something hot off the presses. Also, I almost always buy things that have clear, tangible, lifestyle benefits for me – I am not a “buy it just to have it” kind of person (not that there’s anything wrong with that). So why on Earth am I pre-ordering a brand-new gadget in a category I’ve previously disdained?

I’m not sure.

Yup, that’s the truth. I have no specific use-case for it. I don’t see exactly where it fits into my world. I don’t even know how well the darn thing works!

But I have a feeling.

I’m pretty sure it’s going to work well. I’m pretty sure it’ll fit into my world, whether it’s for fun at home, informative on the bus, or productive at the office.

Not just the kool-aid.

I also believe there’ll be some quirks I won’t like. I doubt it’ll solve all my worldly needs. I am sure I’ll find some frustrations and it won’t do some things I want it to do. I’m pretty sure I’ll end up paying the “early adopter tax.” I’m good with all that.

So what’s so exciting?

I think the iPad is likely a first glimpse into the real post-computer-as-computing era. The phone (smart or not) simply doesn’t cut it, as a potential computer replacement, in fact it probably exacerbates the need for a laptop/device. I believe the netbook as category has specifically emerged due to this issue, and think a device like the iPad does have huge opportunity in both the business and personal realms. Oh, and I can’t stand netbooks. Small keys. Smell like cabbage.

Still not exciting there, Toeman.

Yeah, I know. At the end of the day it’s a gut check. And mine’s excited.

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What would the Consumer Electronics Show be if it didn’t have it’s fair share of weird, wacky, zany, and otherwise silly technology proudly on display? It’s easy enough to catch the 3D displays, the ultra-slim TVs, and other hot new stuff. But seeking out the “take a picture of yourself and print a custom press-on nail kiosk” take a lot more effort. Here were some of my favorite fun things at the show:

DIY Personalized Press-On Nails
Thanks to the digital camera and modern inkjet technology, the trappings of instant print-your-own-anything are here to wonder and delight. Custom shirts, hats, mugs, skateboards and stickers have been all the rage of late. But that era is now past, thanks to the make your own press-on nail system. It’s funny, but in reality, someone’s going to make a killing setting these things up in malls across the country.

The Changhong Panda
Not sure why the panda was there, what the company was doing, or really anything other than there was in fact a six foot tall panda. And his new friend Adam.

The Sony Bloggie
This camera hits home with the “we’re gonna try to appeal to them bloggerators” marketing pitch. Yup, from the company that basically invented portable music, numerous industry standard playback formats, the plasma display, and more. Next year they’ll ship the twittie, a micro-camera.

The “real” headphone
If you think your ears are the only part of your body that can hear noise, well, ok actually you are correct in that regards. However, if you think hearing noise is just about the external part of your ear, well that’s where you’re wrong. Turns out your entire head can absorb sound, it’s a concept called bone conduction, and it’s actually been around for a while. But nobody’s quite mastered the art of the demo and pitch like these guys:

Programmable Color Keyboards
Let’s face it, keyboards are boring. Every other accessory, from mice to USB drives, come in hundreds of flavors and varieties. But thankfully the wait is over, you too can have a customized keyboard. American Flag pattern? Got it. Rainbow? Check. Jersey Shore theme? Sigh, it’s inevitable.

The 4th-gen iPhone?
Could this be it?
(no – it’s just a 3/4 size knock-off by some random Asian manufacturer. it might turn on, probably can make a phone call or two, but there’s definitely no app store)

Automatic Bottle Opener
Just think of all the wine bottles you open over the year. If you are American, it’s a grand total of about 6 bottles per year (as opposed to your French cousin, who is closer to 40). Assuming you exert about 12 calories per bottle opened, just think of all the muscle energy you’d save if only you had a gadget to perform this laborious recurring chore for you. Ta da:

Space Station Styled iMac Workstation
In all fairness this isn’t really as goofy as anything else on the list, in the right kind of office this could actually look pretty interesting. Not *my* office, but…

The Nickelodeon Oxygen Bar, Massage Center, and Nap Station
Why wouldn’t Nickelodeon, a popular children’s TV network be at the Consumer Electronics Show? And why wouldn’t there be an Oxygen Bar in the middle of a booth? And why wouldn’t there be a place for people to just chill and, well, fall asleep? And while we’re at it, why wouldn’t we think of the same network that brings us shows with insanely loud music and bright colors to “inspire” our children as the same place to deliver us such a restful location? Convergence.

SpeakerShoes
This is clearly the first generation of products from CONTROL, as a prototype for next year’s edition which’ll have the phone inside. I think I can summarize by saying “missed it by that much”.

Forget 3DTV, CES was all about E-Cigarettes
I am not exaggerating nor incorrect when I state there were more demonstrations of “e-cigarette” products than there were 3DTV products. Why? Because every third or fourth Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, and other manufacturing representatives were showcasing them in their booths. As I am not a smoker, I don’t get the appeal of regular cigarettes, but I am willing to wager these don’t quite replicate the experience.

Automatic Head Massager
Unfortunately there were no demonstration units to try out. I am a big fan of all massage-related technologies (and if someone from Panasonic wants to send me that amazing $6000 massage chair, I will happily accept it as a permanent featured addition to the man-cave). Not sure how the head massage feels, but I think you can slip it an extra $20 for a happy ending.

En route to Vegas, I got myself completely ready for “liveblogging” CES 2010. My plan was to walk the show floor, find interesting stuff, and either make a quick video or take a picture and blog. In order to achieve this goal, I had the following technologies prepped:

My Droid Eris. I was fairly confident that the Verizon network would hold up well during the show, giving me 3G bandwidth when and where I’d need it. Further, it has a 5MP camera – good enough for CES picture taking. Usefulness: 9/10.

Ardica jacket w/Moshi Power Pack. Stage Two is doing some consulting work with Ardica, so they gave me a jacket to use during the show in order to keep my Eris charged (since the battery while doing 3G connectivity drains ridiculously fast). Usefulness: 10/10. And as a bonus it kept me warm outside!

Flip minoHD. As my backup to my Droid, I had a Flip ready to make all sorts of interesting videos, just in case. Usefulness:2/10. I only made one video with the Flip, but it did work when I needed it.

Right now you’re probably thinking “well golly jee, Jeremy, it sure sounds like you were set up as the ultimate mobile blogger. What ever could have gone wrong?”

First, while the network connectivity far outpaced my iPhone friends, it still just wasn’t good enough for really watchable mobile video. My friend “Tivoboy” sent me a note that said “live stream is cool and novel, but vid quality is poor doesn’t make for real viewing or ANY future use.” After receiving that (4 videos later), I pretty much stopped. Here’s a sample video:

So, now that I was reduced to still imagery and blogging, I ran into the next hurdle: I’m amazingly slow at typing on my Eris, and CES is really busy. Every time I took a pic, I wanted to upload and write right away, but in reality I pretty much had to keep moving. So I decided to keep the major storytelling for after I returned, and used Twitter for any “real-time” updates. I’ll spend the rest of the week getting all the content online (depending on how much MW2 I end up playing).

Overall I thought it was a pretty decent CES. Nothing outstanding, but then there really hasn’t been much amazing to see at CES in years anyway. It’s the fundamental branding problem of the show. Further, the rapidity at which content was shared by Engadget and others radically diminished the in-person wow factor. When you already know about the various 3DTV, ultra-slim TVs, netbooks, tablets, e-readers, and everything else that’s being shown, it takes a bit away from the in-person showiness of it all.

I think this is the fundamental challenge to keep the show interesting and excited for the attendees (beyond their busy schedules full of meetings). By Friday afternoon (day 2) when I was walking the show with Robert Scoble and Rocky, we had already seen everything we wanted to see. This is compounded by the (and forgive the word) “lemming-ness” of the big players. Once 3DTV was pre-established to be a hot thing, it became the only thing, and as a result, boring. You simply can’t get excited by 5 different demos of the same technology (especially not one that many of us just aren’t excited about).

The iPadTabletMacMacTouchiSlate will supposedly launch next year, and with it comes the end of an era. For that statement to make any sense, I should probably backtrack a bit and give a little explanation. While considering the impact of this product (should it even exist beyond the labs in Cupertino, that is), I’ve been thinking back on the history and evolution of gadgets. Incidentally, I’m only considering electronic gadgets, but not including computers (or laptops) nor kitchen-related items (pretty much everything in the modern kitchen is some kind of gadget). I’ve grouped them (in my own mind) into three major phases, and in pure Tolkienish geeky wonderfulness, I’m calling them Ages.

The First Age

Definition: For sake of discussion, I’ll define the First Age of Gadgets as starting with calculators and LCD watches (and, of course, calculator watches). Sticklers will quickly point out something I’m missing, but in my opinion that’s when the concept of “gadgets” really got kicking. These products (1) required batteries and (2) did one thing, typically pretty well. These early gadgets were typically fairly functional in nature, not very gimmicky or showy. They were also workhorses as compared to modern products – you can drop most “old school” products and not fear for significant damage (probably directly related to LED or single-line LCD outputs).

Timeframe: roughly the early 1970s all the way into the 1990s. That said, many products came out in the ’90s that would still be considered First Age gadgets, per the definition above.

Defining gadget: tie between Walkman and Game Boy. Both effectively defined a product category, and still do to this day in most respects. It’s far too easy to argue that the iPod is just a “modern” Walkman, and ditto for the DS/PSP.

Memorable gadgets: Mattel Football, Atari 2600, NES, Speak and Spell (the first DSP was inside it), the Polaroid instant camera, and HP calculators (they could graph stuff!), DiscMan (also great, but not as revolutionary as the WalkMan).

The Second Age

Definition: In a nutshell: USB connectivity and/or card reader integration. Slightly more detailed: the Second Age of gadgets is about products that were able to connect and/or share data with a computer (but did not include WiFi) and/or cell phones. Gadgets started becoming a little more pervasive, a little more mainstream, a lot more pop culture. In addition to the gadgets themselves, the category of gadget accessories really began to boom (chargers, carrying case, rechargeable batteries, etc). This was also the dawn of the gadget blogs. I asked Peter Rojas, founder of Gizmodo, if he could recall why he launched the site: “It was an experiment, something Nick and I started almost by accident. I don’t think either of us thought blogging would become as big as it did. People are a LOT more interested in gadgets now than when I started Gizmodo in 2002 – it’s become part of pop culture.”

Timeframe: late 1990s to mid-2000’s. Obviously there were definitely earlier cell phones and we still have completely disconnected gadgets coming to market today, but this is still a fairly definable time. Interesting, I referred to this timeframe in another “look back” kind of post last year.

Defining gadget: tough call, but it’s the iPod. No other device was so utterly perfect at the concept of end-to-end interaction between the device and the computer.

Defining gadget: This is a debatable call, but I’m going to go with the BlackBerry. It truly ushered in the notion of a converged device with phone and Internet access, and was the major game changer of usage behaviors with regards to mobile devices. Obviously the iPhone has had its own impact, but one could argue that (1) the BlackBerry is a clear success, and (2) the iPhone might never have come out without it.

Memorable gadgets: iPhone (see, it’s there!), Xbox 360, Harmony 880 remote, Slingbox (disclosure: I built it, so I’m biased, but I think it belongs on the list!), Sonos (disclosure: I have worked with Sonos in the past, but again, I think it’s hard to argue that any other product has so well integrated the Internet and personal media and home gadgets), Eye-Fi (like it or don’t, but it certainly opened new concepts), the Flip, the Kindle. Oh, and of course the Twitterpeek (just kidding).

The Fourth Age

Regardless of the iSlate, we are at the brink of a new generation of gadgets that utterly change the way we think of technology and mobility. Internet access and data synchronization/sharing will be considered ubiquitous and pervasive across new devices. I consider gadgets like the FitBit right on the fringe of what I’m talking about – designed for a connected life, but don’t focus on a typical way of being used. My expectations for what I’m calling the Fourth Age of gadgets center around three major changes and improvements in displays, inputs, and power.

Displays: I assume we’ll be seeing flexible display surfaces (folding, roll-up, etc) that change the way we physically interact with a device. The concept of a hard, flat screen (even a touchable one) seems very outdated to me. I think the real revolutionary tablet will be the first one with some form of flexible display (and my money’s on Apple for making this happen). I also foresee better use of microprojectors to remove the need for an on-board display at all.

Input: Next generation products should have inputs much more interesting than just a keyboard. Let’s assume the concept of gestures is one good starting point, but it really needs to be taken further than the pinching and scrolling effect. I’m also anticipating more use of optical recognition (like Natal uses) to simple “watch” the user control a device – gestures are even more interesting when you don’t have to touch a screen. Voice recognition and input is basically already here, but yet to be fully put to work (thanks David for that suggestion). Another is more interesting uses of accelerometers and motion sensors, where a gadget is interacted with simply by how you move it around.

Power: I consider batteries, even the most modern Li-Ion ones, one of the key deficiencies in gadget design. Batteries create massive inefficiencies in cost structure, environmental impact, and product usage. As a stopgap solution, I am a fan of the wireless charging concepts, but that’s really just a big bandaid in my opinion. We are right around the corner from making rechargeable fuel cell based devices very feasible. This is a good step, but I’m anticipating some more monumental leaps. As per my thoughts on flexible displays, I think the materials sciences engineers out there are cooking up some very innovative solutions to make gadgets last longer, weigh less, and be notably cheaper to produce.

For a little sanity check, I asked Josh Topolsky, Editor-in-Chief of Engadget, his opinion:

“I think we’re just starting to scratch the surface of what’s possible in mobile computing (non-laptop, non-traditional computing, that is). Smartphones are in their infancy, tablets are non-existent; what we’ve seen in demos only just begins to show the potential in this space. When manufacturers can add the horsepower and bandwidth needed to those devices without sacrificing battery life or design, our perception of computing will shift dramatically. Multitouch interfaces and UI concepts that involve more than just moving boxes around on a screen will completely upend our ideas about how you interact with the machine; gadgets like the iPhone and Surface have already sparked that fire. In just a few years (say, less than five), I expect that using a laptop or desktop computer will seem quaint, or worse: antiquated.”

Personally, I’m excited about the future. I’m just ever-so-bored of the current state of gadget affairs. The iPhone has just sucked the life out of real innovation, and everyone’s playing a pretty boring game of catchup, with the occasional attempt to one-up Apple. The problem is the giants of CE are acting like big sluggish organizations, and the cost structures have been prohibitive to enable startups to find easy paths to success, with few exceptions to these rules. Hence why we in the Third Age we have One Phone to Rule Them All. But 10 years ago we’d have bet on Sony, not Apple, to lead the revolution. I wonder who will lead us on the road ahead (and if we’ll see it at CES 2010?).

Disclaimer: Please don’t throw out gadgets. If your current gadget works, keep using it, or gift it to someone you know. Nobody want it? Donate it. Just don’t throw em out – electronics waste is at an all-time high, and recent reports put a dubious spectre over the merits of recycling them. Remember: you probably don’t need a new gadget, you probably just want one.

If you’re even close to being a “gadget guy” (gadget person?), you probable own: a laptop, MP3 player, digital camera, cell phone, bluetooth headset, gaming console, computer speakers, flatscreen TV, DVR, GPS, camcorder, DVD player, printer, router, and possibly more. Some of the gadgets we’ve bought over the years are still holding up just fine, others (like your Startac) probably get you a little teasing from time to time. Here’s a handy little guide to help you decide what you may want to pick up this holiday season (black friday anyone?).

MP3 player (with hard drive): I still swear by my Rio Karma as the best one ever made, but it really is out of date. If you are constantly erasing music just to make room for other mixes, you could probably do with a newer unit.

MP3 player (flash memory): Pretty much the same rule of thumb as above. Also, instead of just rushing out to buy an iPod, take a look at the new Sansa units too. And then buy an iPod.

Digital camera: This is probably a good “needs an update” category. I recommend having something in the 5-8 megapixel range, with image stabilization. Beyond that is really unnecessary for a point-and-click camera (and I’m no DSLR expert, so you should check out Thomas Hawk’s blog for better advice)

Cell phone: Aside from vanity factor, if your phone makes calls, has good coverage and good battery life, and can send/receive text messages, there’s no need to upgrade. If you aren’t in high school, your cell phone doesn’t make you cool, and there’s nothing “unique” about having an iPhone…

Bluetooth headset: if people constantly say to you “are you on your stupid headset?” then you might want to think about an upgrade. I recommend picking a retailer that will let you return it, so you can try something til you like it. The Jawbone and Sound ID headsets are my two picks if you need a recommendation.

Gaming console: If your console rhymes with “ShmeamCast”, “Jimtendo 64”, “Naystation 2”, “Bolecovision” or “Henesis”, you need to upgrade. Get an Xbox 360.

Camcorder: Unless you have some very specific purpose, the new Flip MinoHD is probably the most awesomest thing you can get. That said, your digital camera probably does a good enough job as it is for most personal use short videos.

DVR/Set-top box: If it supports HD, you’re all set. If it doesn’t, call your cable company, get an upgrade.

Laptop: If you have my Vaio, try to sell it. If your laptop is more than 3 years old, and a few keys fell off the keyboard, it’s probably due for a replacement. I recommend the 2nd-to-the-bottom-end MacBook, and I’m sure there are some good Windows options these days, but I don’t know what they are.

Printer: If printing something out sounds eerily reminiscent of a loose fanbelt from a 1972 Oldsmobile, go get a new inexpensive printer.

Router: 802.11g is a must have. I’m trying out the D-Link DIR-855 now, but also like the NETGEAR Rangemax line. For the “go-to workhorse reliable easy-to-use router”, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G.

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That’s “ennui”, not “envy”, and I’m writing about the fairly dull times we are living in. From an awesome new gadget perspective, that is.

The Age of Enlightened Gadgets spanned the first half of this decade, where a virtually continuous stream of new and fascinating toys were built by both large manufacturers and new upstarts. I’d probably look back at the launches for the original PalmPilot and TiVo as the Big Bang moments. The first generation digital cameras also helped kickstart the gadget world.

A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with Ryan Block, former Editor-in-Chief of Engadget and cofounder of gdgt.com, he was actually the one who first commented to me about the changing gadget world. I asked him why he felt 2001-05 was a more exciting time, he said “It’s the point in which non-geeky people started buying personal technology in droves. Cellphones, digital cameras, laptops — they became tools of mere mortals, not just tools of the trade.”

Today, however, I feel things are a little more… boring. Phones, cameras, MP3 players, etc – they are all fairly well-defined. The netbook category is probably the only really exciting new entrant we’ve seen in recent history. Sure there are oddballs along the way (Slingbox, LiveScribe, USB Humping Dog, etc), but for the most part our categories are almost too well-defined (which is a huge part of why I got involved in working with Bug Labs). I find it hard to get excited about a new, slightly better phone, or higher-resolution camera, flatter screen, etc.

I’ve had the opportunity to build and market consumer electronics products with about a dozen different companies, from the biggest to the smallest manufacturers. They all face the same set of challenges, including a very high failure ratio (for experimental products), a high barrier to entry (engineering, manufacturing, sourcing, support, etc), a rapidly changing technology landscape (wireless standards, codecs, etc), and a lack of sufficient expertise in dealing with all these matters. To clarify: there are tons of experts at these companies, but few of them deal with the sum of all these issues. The guy who was in charge of building AV receivers in the 80s is now dealing with on-screen complicated GUIs, and these are radically different skill sets.

My prediction is we’ll continue through another couple of years of playing the current game. Apple will remain the pioneer in enthralling us (like it or not) with their product evolutions. The majority of other players will continue to attempt to copy Apple, and continue to fall short (the quantity of poorly designed touchscreen phones is amazing to me – here’s a hint: stop trying to clone it, start trying to out-do it). We’ll continue to see the same categories of gadgets, each with minor evolutions occur (adding WiFi to an MP3 player or camera is not a revolutionary enhancement).

And then something interesting will happen. Breakthroughs in material science will create radically new opportunities. Pervasive Internet will change the way we think about storage. Location-based services might actually find a use. Modularity will gain mainstream use and appeal. I don’t know when. I don’t know exactly how. But it’s going to be a fun ride when it starts.

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I had a great “off-the-grid” weekend camping and was reflecting on living life a little less tech-y, thought it would be a good idea to put together thoughts on using technology more greenly (is that a word? doubtful). Over the past year I’ve spent a chunk of time looking into how to change my habits to use less energy, be less wasteful, and I’m a big believer that we can all cut back or think about our impact a little more. So in easy-to-read-everybody-loves-a-list format…

Don’t Need? Don’t Buy! There’s no easier way to live sustainably than to consume less goods. The process of creating a product takes so much energy and resources that this is your #1 way to help the world. An alternate suggestion here is buying used/recycled/refurbished products (you’ll save a lot of money this way as well). As my colleague Pip Coburn says, there’s a lot more “wanting” in life than there is “needing”.

Unplug them at night. Ever notice how your power transformers (the big black bricks) are warm, even if your device is off? Everything uses a trickle amount of power just by being plugged in. It might take you a few extra seconds here and there, but try unplugging your gadgets, or switching off your power strips at night.

Print in draft mode. Not only are printer cartridges pricey, the materials used are very costly in terms of resources. Unless you are printing a “keeper”, you should be printing in draft/low-quality mode (virtually all printers have this setting).

Turn off your displays! While LCDs and plasmas have the earthly benefit of using less materials to produce relative to CRT screens, they also seem to stay on a lot more. Unfortunately, displays use more power than virtually anything else in your home, and the more you can leave them off, the better. This has a second benefit in that it’ll extend the lifespan of your display, which brings us back to point #1 above.

Remove batteries from infrequently used devices. Got a remote control you never use? Take the battery out, as they’ll basically self-destruct after time. Yank the batteries out, tape them to the remote, and you’ll be all set.

Shut down PCs! If you’re on Windows, both Standby and Hibernate are better than leaving a PC on overnight, even if it adds 1-5 minutes to your morning (shameless plug: unless you use a Splashtop-powered computer). If you are on a Mac, there’s simply no excuse for leaving it on overnight.

Lower brightness settings. As I’ve mentioned earlier, screens (TV, laptop, etc) use more power than almost any other gadget/technology you’ll own. Lowered brightness settings mean less power used mean longer life mean overall less consumption of resources.

Turn down the volume. This is the audio version of lowered brightness. In comparison, this is a small blip compared to the screens, but more juice is more juice. Also, you’ll probably annoy less neighbors and keep your ears working properly a bit longer in life.

TV or Laptop, not both. The stats are showing that along with the ~8.5 hours a TV is on during the day, about ~40% of that time is spent with members of the household using a computer. While watching TV. Now maybe it’s just my eyes, but I can’t see both screens simultaneously. Not only that, focusing on one activity at a time will probably be a fairly calming experience anyway, so do yourself (and the world) a favor by turning off the screen you aren’t really paying attention to.

Charge only when needed. I can say with a lot of certainty that you don’t own a single product which truly requires an overnight charge. Not only will you save some power, you’ll probably extend the life of your battery, as many devices still tend to overcharge, and drain the longevity of use.

Check power consumption prior to buying.Philips won the overall Best of CES award this past year with their eco-friendly plasma, and while it’s still a big power-hog, it’s less of a power-hog than the rest. If you are ultimately indifferent to the gadget you are getting, do a quick power consumption check (clearly labeled on all packaging) before buying.

Monitor your use. Nothing feels better about a new project than learning you are doing it right. Check your power bill to get a sense of your current consumption, then start looking for differences. In a bit of an oxymoronic move, you could buy this gadget to monitor electrical use. Well, maybe you can find it used, right?

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About

Jeremy Toeman is VP Products for CNET. He has over 15 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include Viggle, Dijit Media, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents nothing but his personal opinion and outlook on things.